Tag: Matcha

Posted on

DavidsTea’s Earl Grey Matcha

Earl Grey Matcha by DavidsTea
Green Tea (Matcha) / Flavoured
$9.98 for 50g

First Impressions 

Have you ever come across a tea that you needed to try – not because you actually thought it might taste good, but because you hoped it would? This is one of those teas. I love Earl Grey and I love matcha – what could possibly go wrong? Well, I’m sure a lot. I didn’t really get this tea with a lot of high hopes because I was anticipating it being not that great. I had high hopes, but low expectations. Part of this is because sometimes flavoured matcha mixes can often just fall short, or I’m just super picky – take your pick.

Earl Grey Matcha comes in a very similar sealed, resealable silver pouch. It has the green label on the front – with the same pitifully difficult to read white text on a green background (again, nobody asks my opinion before committing to print something, but I’ll still mention this from an accessibility point of view). The matcha drink mix (as it is called) has a really nice aroma to it – very bright citrus notes that do make me think of bergamot and a hint of black tea, perhaps, lingering in the background. There are some grassy undertones to this matcha blend from the matcha base itself. Whatever was used for the Earl Grey flavouring, it smells right.

Earl Grey Matcha consists of: cane sugar, matcha green tea, and natural Earl Grey flavouring. Not sure what is in that flavouring, but the aroma is spot on and I’m a bit impressed about it over here. The colour of the powder drink mix itself is a light grassy green colour. I can definitely see the sugar crystals in the light from the cane sugar, so I am expecting it to be sweet (and hopeful that it’s not too sweet).

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends whisking Earl Grey Matcha in 85°C (185°F) water, and that’s what I ended up doing.

Instead of using a traditional bamboo whisk, I ended up using a handheld milk frother. I find that drink mixes, because they’re not pure, unadulterated matcha, they tend to mix easier in warm water and don’t require sifting as often. So I did skip that step as well. If you are preparing a traditional matcha, I highly recommend sifting to help get rid of the clumps before you begin. Head over to my post on The Basics of Preparing Matcha for more tips and tricks on whisking up your cup of matcha.

First Taste

Earl Grey Matcha whisks up to be a dark grassy green colour. It does still have the Earl Grey aroma, the nice bright citrus notes of the bergamot flavouring are quite evident in the tea when prepared. The things that I noticed when sipping this is that it’s quite sweet, almost too much for me and I have a sweet tooth. There’s some pleasant grassy undertones in the flavour profile, but primarily I do taste the sugar, bergamot notes, and just something about that flavouring that was used that reminds me of the robustness of a strong Earl Grey.

Because I did found it a bit sweet when drinking it straight, I ended up trying out Earl Grey Matcha as a tea latte because… why not? I found it to be pleasant because the addition of frothed milk allowed the cane sugar to be more diluted and help temper down that sweetness, plus the extra level of creaminess from the milk just helped elevate the drink as a whole. Not a necessary step in enjoying this tea, however.

A Second Cup?

As Earl Grey Matcha is a matcha, there are no second steeps with the same matcha drink mix.

My Overall Impression

I loved DavidsTea’s Earl Grey Matcha. I found myself impressed with the level of Earl Grey aroma and flavour in this matcha drink mix because it is at a strength that I really appreciate. There’s just a nice sunshine brightness with the bergamot, and something in it that hints of being black tea. I do think that the amount of cane sugar could be less, but I’m not overly fussed about it because I know a lot of people don’t pick up a matcha drink mix expecting it to be health food product. I do recommend having it as a tea latte though, because you might as well go all out and treat yourself properly.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

Posted on

Naoki Matcha’s Ujitawara Special

Ujitawara Special by Naoki Matcha
Green Tea (Matcha) / Straight
$24.99USD for 20g

Naoki Matcha has provided me with Ujitawara Special for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Ujitawara Special came to me from Naoki Matcha in a sealed, resealable pouch. It’s described as being part of their Masters Collection and being a ceremonial grade matcha. This particular blend of matcha is from Uji, Kyoto, Japan. I was quite pleased to get the chance to try this because I’m always wanting to explain my knowledge of matcha and I feel like every experience comes with something new.

The aroma of Ujitawara Special is a mix of grassy and watercress to me. The colour is an amazingly vibrant green that just looks very fresh and inviting – like someone just plucked new leaves off a plant and ground it up in front of me. Giving the tasting cup a small shake and most of the clumps that came out of the packaging that way just fell apart.

Preparation

Naoki Matcha didn’t have specific instructions for Ujitawara Special, but their website does have a lot of information on how to prepare matcha.

What I opted to do: heat water to the lowest setting on my variable temperature kettle (the green tea setting 175°F/79°C), sifted Ujitawara Special into my bowl, whisked with a bamboo whisk (in an M or W motion), and then topped up with a bit more water. I had this one straight.

First Taste

Ujitawara Special has an interesting flavour that was hard for me to pinpoint at first. There was the froth from the top of the matcha first, so that was just a bit bubbly. Then followed umami flavour, grassy notes, and then almost a sweet floral that was just kissed the taste buds before it was gone. It has a nice smoothness to it that makes it pretty pleasant to drink.

A Second Cup?

As with all matcha, there are no second steeps.

My Overall Impression

I loved Naoki Matcha’s Ujitawara Special. It was a treat to experience and drink from start to finish. The vibrancy of colour, to that subtle grassy and watercress aroma to the deep green whisked up matcha and just how it easy it was to drink definitely made for a pleasant matcha experience. I had this one straight (so not as my usual matcha latte), and you could certainly opt to do that with this as well, it just might make for an expensive matcha latte given the price – but a good quality matcha will usually run you at least $1 per gram, and if you want to drink a really nice matcha latte, shouldn’t you be using something good?

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

Posted on

Naoki Matcha’s Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade

Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade by Naoki Matcha
Green Tea (Matcha) / Straight
$22.99USD for 40g

Naoki Matcha has provided me with Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade for the purposes of writing an honest review. This product is also under the name Superior Ceremonial Blend Matcha on their website.

First Impressions

Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade came to me in a lovely metal tin with a well-fitting lid. Inside was a sealed silver pouch. I did end up cutting it open and pouring the contents into the tin. The matcha inside has a beautiful bright, spring green colour. There’s a nice aroma to the matcha – very grassy, vegetal, a nice freshness overall to it.

Naoki Matcha’s product page for Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade tells me that this matcha is from Uji, Kyoto, Japan and contains no other ingredients besides 100% pure Japanese Matcha. The leaves are from the first harvest, and that it’s most suited for making matcha tea, lattes, and smoothies. In fact, when a representative from Naoki Matcha asked me if I would be interested in trying their product, they included a guide on how to make lattes and suggested I try it out as a matcha latte, so I did end up obliging! Naoki Matcha does have a lot of articles about matcha on their website, so give it a look if you’re interested in learning more about matcha.

Preparation

Naoki Matcha recommends preparing Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade with room temperature water if making it into a tea latte. You really just prepare it the same way you would if you were whisking it with warm or hot water.

For ease, and because I had it handy, I mixed mine up in a shaker bottle. I heated up some soy milk as that’s what I had in my fridge, and then poured the prepared matcha on top. Not café quality, but still not terrible looking!

First Taste

As a tea latte, Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade has a lovely flavour. There’s definitely the umami quality that I look for in a matcha, but it’s quite well balanced. I found it had some nice grassy qualities to it, a hint of sweetness, and it does balance well against the (soy) milk that I had in my cup. I’m always on the look out for a matcha that goes well into lattes since it’s really my preferred method of drinking matcha on a regular basis. It just has a sense of decadence to it.

I did save some of the matcha I had mixed up to drink up straight. Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade has a very deep green colour to it, almost emerald in likeness. There’s a hint of sweetness to this matcha when not mixed into milk. It has a nice freshness, a nice grassy quality to it, and the umami is definitely heavily present in this more traditional preparation without the milk. I think it’s nice, but having the umami quality of the matcha lightened by the addition of milk certainly helps to make it easier to drink.

A Second Cup?

As Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade is prepared as a suspension, there are no second steeps with the same matcha powder.

My Overall Impression

I loved Naoki Matcha’s Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade. I really liked the packaging, it feels like it is good quality. The matcha itself is so bright in colour and has a really strong aroma with just the powder. I found that it mixes really easily and well when wanting to make tea latte out of it. It’s definitely tasty and I found that the flavour was good when made up essentially like a matcha shot, but even more enjoyable as a tea latte, which is one of the methods suggested for preparation of this matcha from Naoki Matcha.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.